Criminals grappling with heroin and crack cocaine addictions face waits of two weeks on average before they get court-ordered treatment - and some are resuming robbing to pay for their habits.

One addict, Nicholas Percival, went without treatment for a month after being sentenced to a drug treatment and testing order (DTTO) and then stole £20,000 worth of property from Reading homes.

Reading's senior Crown Court Judge, Stanley Spence, said Percival had been stuck "between a rock and a hard place" as he battled with his addiction.

Judge Spence was told criminals sentenced to DTTOs were not given priority for places in non-residential treatment programmes over others seeking help.

As part of the DTTO, offenders are given

counselling, treatment, drug substitutes and are tested for substances in a bid to beat their addictions and stop their need to steal.

Yesterday Mr Salter, the Reading West MP, wrote to Home Secretary David Blunkett saying addicts needed treatment within "days not weeks or months" if DTTOs were going to work.

Mr Salter said: "There needs to be a radical overhaul of the system to ensure that addicts are given instant access to drug treatment programmes.

"Delays of more than a day or two merely trigger another drug-fuelled crime wave, letting down the police, the courts and the community.

"I would argue that we need a fast-track system to prioritise the addicts most at risk of re-offending to feed their habits."

The joint campaign by Mr Salter and the Evening Post has already won backing from Home Office director Hugh Marriage.

He said: "There will be some criminal justice people who should skip the queue and some who should not.

"It is not a question of every DTTO case but some should.

"It is not necessarily for them but for public safety. It's the public that need the protection."

Both the Probation Service and Berkshire Healthcare, both of which are involved in DTTOs, agreed yesterday that treatment should start quickly.

However, Maxine Myatt, assistant chief probation officer in the Thames Valley, said it had been debated by the organisations involved that criminals should not get any preference over other drug users.

Currently about a third of all DTTOs are "success", she said.

Earlier this month the Evening Post discovered some addicts seeking treatment outside the criminal justice system were waiting up to 12 weeks to be assessed for treatment.